Category: Small Town Life

Friday Favorites: Perfect stuffing, Local Holiday Shopping & Granny Chic

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I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful, and you were able to spend time with the ones you love… family, friends or new friends. I’d be remiss to not acknowledge that quite a few friends and loved ones are suffering great losses and illness this week…my heart goes out to them. Losing a family member or beloved pet is never easy, but the loss feels extra heavy around the holidays.

Most Requested Recipe


It wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without one of my most often requested sides, Poblano Corn Custard. This recipe is from my days cooking with Lily & Co. here in Austin. It was one of our best sellers, and is always a crowd pleaser. I made notes in the recipe where I make a couple modifications. There are not many, as the recipe is close to perfection. You can buy the cookbook Lilly for Company: Austin Casual Menus for Palm & Plate locally at Anderson’s Coffee or on Amazon. I might also mention that Anderson’s is my favorite coffee in Austin. Family owned, wonderful staff, and amazing selection of coffees, teas, cups, teapots, preserves, candies… great place for gifts.

Dottie Angel

Yesterday morning I woke up around 8, Steve was already on his bike, in the woods. I was able to enjoy my morning coffee and knit away on a gift while listening to Woolful’s podcast Episode 42: Tif Fussell – Aunties, holistic healing, following fiber, and Dottie Angel. Tif Fussell is my spirit animal. I’ve always been so in love with her aesthetic and writing. I was sad when she decided to quit blogging a couple years ago, but have enjoyed following her work via Instagram. She spoke about living in a home with a soul and how that fueled her creativity. That absolutely resonated with me.

Hand-dyed yarn. I’m especially loving Fiber Obsession’s “Endear”, a Suri alpaca/merino blend that is like knitting with butter. Fiber Obsessions is a line of hand-dyed yarns by Susan Fricks, owner of Yarnorama in Paige, Texas. I’d show you the WIP, but it’s a gift for someone.

Sufjan Stevens | Carrie & Lowell. Love this. Listen here.

Small Business Saturday is tomorrow. I do not get excited about shopping Black Friday. But I can get behind this. Of course Small Business Saturday is yet another corporate marketing device… but at least you’re helping out your locally owned business owners.

Some of my favorite local shops:

Austin
Anderson’s Coffee

Elgin
The Owl Wine Bar & Home Goods
G&M Drygoods
Elgin Local Goods Market & Cafe
The Tattered Shutter
Ramona’s Rendezvous
The Lion’s Club Thrift

Paige
Yarnorama!

Taylor
The Nest Box
Cherry Tree Creative

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It’s only been a couple days since we turned off the air conditioning and already I’m consumed with thoughts of apple desserts, printing christmas cards and planning for Thanksgiving.

I found this recipe for Apple Fritter Cake, think about that for a minute…apple. fritter.cake. I’m curious about this recipe, I mean everyone knows the best part of an apple fritter is the crunchy fried peaks and glaze filled valleys. I wonder if being baked rather than fried will make me sad. Only one way to find out, and lord knows I have more than a few potlucks in the near future.

Speaking of potlucks…I have quite a few pieces of Potluck Tableware available at The Owl thru the Holiday Season. For those of you not planning a visit to Elgin in the near future… I will have some available by this weekend when I update my Etsy shop. As always, special orders are welcome.

I’ve recently added a handful of recipes to this blog. They are mostly recipes for potlucks and special occasions that I felt paired nicely with my Potluck Tableware… everything from smoky pimento cheese to my absolute favorite cornbread dressing. I’ll be adding more recipes as the seasons go round and round.

I have plans for a pile of vintage (and not so vintage) tablecloths, but not until I am finished with printing holiday cards. I’ve been printing, folding and packaging and will be selling those shortly.

Friday Favorites

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Good morning Elgin

It’s Fall! Though it’s still a sad 90º in central Texas, I’m already digging everything fall. Casting on for a new sweater, dreaming of stews, apple pie and ponchos.

I am very much looking forward to the grand opening of Eva Mae’s Kitchen this weekend. They will be serving up such down home fare as oxtails, beef tips, cabbage and yams. Is everyone as excited as I am?

I’ve been listening to this podcast on my bus commute this week. MMMontana is so appealing.

I’ve been listening to Wes Anderson Radio on Pandora while crafting, cooking or commuting. It’s kind of fun staring out the bus window to my own sweet private soundtrack.

Binging on this Hulu series.

And while I’m talking about TV…how on earth did I miss 3 whole episodes of A Chef’s Life last season?  guess I thought it was done and just didn’t tune in again. I’m loving this season. So tomorrow I will be packaging Potluck Tableware and watching this week’s episode and catching up on the current season of The Great British baking Show.

My weekend plan is to finish packaging all my Potluck Tableware and get it on the shelves for the holiday season. And for those not fortunate enough to live in central Texas… I plan to hold a few items back to sell in my etsy shop.

Enjoy your weekend!